Is Pokemon Go better than a gym membership? – CNET
Has your step count recently spiked from a casual 3,000 steps per day to a pumped-up 15,000 steps per day? If so, you may have taken up the newest exercise craze mobile game Pokemon Go.
The popular new game has inspired a slew of entertaining conspiracy theories, including ones that suggest Pokemon Go was paid for by the Department of Health. And it’s not hard to see why you might be suspicious. Unlike most video games, which allow you to play from the comfort of your own bed, Pokemon Go users get the most out of the game by interacting with the actual world.
Specifically, walking.
Jogger Award Level 2 and Egg Incubation
Screenshots by Rebecca Fleenor/CNET
Pokestops and gyms (the places where you battle your Pokemon) can only be accessed by physically venturing to them. And some features of the game, such as egg incubation, require walking to be unlocked. While you can light some incense (in the game) and lure Pokemon right to your own living room, you’ll be extremely limited on the varieties of Pokemon you can collect without going outside.
The game isn’t even trying to hide its walking agenda. There are various Jogger awards you can win by reaching certain walking milestones.
How many calories am I burning playing Pokemon Go?
Most people — whether or not they’re playing Pokemon Go — will burn somewhere between 50 and 200 calories per mile walked. This will vary depending on your weight and the speed at which you walk. As a rule of thumb, a person will burn around 100 calories per mile.
Pokemon Go does not calculate in miles — it uses the metric system — but a human walks roughly 5 kilometers per hour. We did a few conversions so you can see exactly how much bang you’re getting for your buck.
Calories burned: Pokemon Go vs. The Gym
| Calories burned |
| 125 cal |
| 300 cal |
| 600 cal |
| 600 cal |
| 6,000 cal |
| 440 cal |
| 510 cal |
| 480 cal |
| negligible |
So maybe playing Pokemon Go isn’t more effective than, say, a 1-hour spinning class, but it sure helps on days when you’d rather catch Pokemon than go to the gym.
Get a step counter
If your Pokemon Go addiction means less time for the gym, you might as well track the steps you take hunting Pokemon. Fitness trackers will give you the most data, but if you don’t own one, you can use your phone to track your steps. Here are the best step-tracking apps for iPhone and Android.
Physical activity calorie estimates courtesy of the CDC.
OnePlus 3 Video Review
OnePlus is back this year and stronger than ever with the release of the OnePlus 3, it’s high-end flagship quality phone that ships with all the hardware you need including 64GB of storage for almost half the price of similar ranged phones. After watching, check out our full review from Daniel Treccagnoli here.
Pokemon Go Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
If you’ve been living under a rock these past few days, there’s something you need to know. A few days ago, Nintendo released a mobile app called Pokemon Go on Apple iOS and Google Android. The game integrates augmented reality and makes users travel around their local (and sometimes, not so local) area to catch small, pocketable monsters. Since its release, Pokemon Go has been a huge hit. Like, number-one-in-the-app-store-Internet-and-cultural-phenomenon huge.
But it’s not all Ho-Ohs and Butterfrees. The game is catching flack for accessing users’ full Google accounts, and if you download the game outside the Google Play Store, there’s a chance you’ll get malware instead.
To keep track about what’s going on with Pokemon Go, here’s an exhaustive (and ever growing list) of all the news coverage, how-tos, and explainers CNET has about the game.
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On what lead up to this hit:
- Pokemon Go US beta begins, battle mechanics detailed
- Pokemon Go and ‘Plus’ wearable coming next month
- Pokemon Go launches on iOS and Android
- VIDEO: Pokemon Go now on Android and iOS: CNET Update
On the TL;DR basics:
- Pokemon Go: Gyms, candy, pokeballs and everything else you need to know
- Pokemon Go: Where it’s available now – and coming soon
- VIDEO: A Crash Course On Pokémon GO: Gaming
On how to do practically everything on Pokemon Go:
- 3 pro tips for throwing Pokeballs in Pokemon Go
- How gym battles work in Pokemon Go
- Here’s exactly what you get at every Pokemon Go level
- How to get Pikachu as your starter in Pokemon Go
- VIDEO: How to throw a Pokeball in Pokemon Go
- VIDEO: Pokemon Go: What are gyms?
On its growing cultural impact:
- All the Pokemon Go news from around the world
- It took just one day for Pokemon Go to outstrip Tinder
- Pokemon Go is taking over Spotify too
- Don’t play Pokemon Go while driving a car, state says
- Woman playing Pokemon Go finds dead body
- Pokemon Go players targeted in series of armed robberies, police say
- A wild Pokemon Go appears in Asia
- Pokemon Go: Have you caught the fever? (The 3:59 Podcast, Ep. 75)
- Let the Pokemon Go pub crawls begin
- Is Pokemon Go better than a gym membership?
- VIDEO: Strange Sightings in Pokémon GO: Gaming
- VIDEO: What you look like playing Pokemon Go
On malware, personal data and other bad stuff:
- For Pokemon Go, it’s stop — at least temporarily
- Pokemon Go: Gotta catch all your personal data
- How to avoid Pokemon Go malware
- Pokemon Go can see everything in your Google account. Here’s how to stop it
On its effect on Nintendo:
- Pokemon Go pumps up Nintendo’s value by billions
- Nintendo’s stock surges after Pokemon Go rocks iOS and Android devices
- Pokemon Go is a certified hit. What’s Nintendo’s next play?
- VIDEO: Pokemon Go aftermath: Nintendo makes billions, malware spreads: CNET Update
Gear Fit 2 review – can Samsung get fitness tracking right?
The fitness segment of wearables is as crowded as ever, and even though smartwatches are trying to converge on that territory, there is still a market for active-specific devices. Samsung brought one in the form of a wrap around wearable called the Gear Fit, and then we never really saw it again. Until now – Samsung has released the Gear Fit 2 to take on the fitness trackers of the world.
Other fitness trackers:
- Fitbit Charge HR vs Garmin vivosmart HR
- Fitbit Alta Review
- Fitbit Blaze review
Does it keep up with the competition or does it get left in the dust? Is the Gear Fit 2 the best fitness tracker or should you get a dedicated unit? Find out in this, our full Samsung Gear Fit 2 review.
Buy the Gear Fit 2 now!
Design and Display
The Gear Fit 2 is a lot like the original Gear fit in terms of design – it is still a wraparound device that isn’t afraid to stray away from a more conventional watch form factor. Instead, the plastic band simply wraps around the wrist and fastens with a simple nub on one of the arms that goes into the holes on the other. Finding the right fit isn’t that difficult, as the Gear Fit 2 comes with detachable wristbands in small and large sizes, with plenty of notches to fit all manner of wrists. Though proprietary, there are other colors of these bands for those of you that like to customize your products.
Once wrapped around, this is basically a small peripheral that sports a sizeable, curved touchscreen accompanied by a couple of buttons on the right side and an optical heart rate monitor that rests on the skin. The lower button on the right returns the user to the homescreen, while the upper button is for going backwards in the Tizen UI. They are easy to find and have a good click to them.
But most of the navigation on the Gear Fit 2 is done on the 1.84 inch Super AMOLED display, which has a resolution of 432×216. Swiping from side to side brings the user to the different widgets that include shortcuts to the heart rate monitor, workouts, and trackers for water and caffeine intake. The colors on the AMOLED screen are where one would expect from Samsung, and the display is properly responsive for getting in and out of the various features.
While the display does a good job of showing workout, sleep, and heart rate information, it does have a limit when receiving notifications – often emails and long messages will be eventually cut off, ending with the ability to reply (depending on the app in question) or the option to open the notification on the paired smartphone. The display does a good job of showing its information without requiring a whole lot of squinting – but as with any wearable, it is not the most ideal place to read longer forms of text.
Overall, the Gear Fit 2 doesn’t weigh down the wrist and it is light enough to generally forget it is even there – given how easy it is to put on, removal and replacement when necessary is as easy as it can be. And in most situations, the Gear Fit 2 can handle some punishment – with a IP68 certification, it is water resistant. Though it is not specifically rated for swimming or showering, everything from hand washing splashes and full showers haven’t done any damage to the Gear Fit 2.
Hardware
The Gear Fit 2 comes with a few extra features required of a proper fitness device, and that includes GPS, Bluetooth, the heart rate monitor, and 4GB of onboard storage that can be utilized from the Gear Manager on the smartphone.
To start off, the 200mAh battery allows the Gear to go for a few days without needing to dock it into the included proprietary charger. When paired to the phone and receiving messages, a few days happens pretty easily – however, at one point I used the wearable without the Bluetooth on and it lasted plenty longer, close to 5 and a half days. When tracking workouts consistently, the device will obviously drain battery faster. Your mileage will vary – pun intended.
Samsung smartphones aren’t particularly required to enjoy the benefits of the Gear Fit 2, as the device can be paired to phones that have the Gear Manager and S Health installed. In my case, I was able to have the phone paired to the OnePlus 3, and even look at the information transferred to the phone through S Health, installed via the Play Store.
Those who listen to music during workouts can use a Spotify app on the Gear Fit 2, but that does require the phone to be in range. On the other hand, users can transfer local music files to the device via the Gear Manager and listen to music that way – simply pair a Bluetooth headset to the Gear and it will play music from the built in music player. It works quite well and provides a convenient way to bring audio along for workouts without having to rely too heavily on the smartphone. Audio prompts of how long or how far the activity has gone are routed to the headphones, as well, which is useful.
Though users can manually start workouts, one important facet of wearables today is the ability to automatically recognize activity. GPS is always on in the Gear Fit 2, used in conjunction with the accelerometer in order to track distances and possible workouts like walking, running, and hiking. When used with workouts, the GPS needs to lock onto the user and then the path of the activity will be saved for later viewing. Getting a GPS lock tended to take a little while, but once it was set, workouts were properly tracked in both the device and the smartphone’s S Health application.
Distance is one way of tracking a workout, but monitoring one’s heart rate is another option. The optical monitor also does automatic tracking, focusing on resting heart rate through measurements every 10 minutes. The lower one’s resting heart rate is, the better the person’s general fitness is – so, this is a welcome feature of the Gear Fit 2. For the most part, it is fairly accurate and gives a pretty constant look at one’s personal health.
On the other hand, using the heart rate monitor during workouts is very hit or miss. To begin with, heart rate monitoring is only available for basically cardio workouts like running. I personally prefer lifting exercises over straight cardio, so this means that the heart rate monitor is less useful for me. And even then, the accuracy of the monitor during high intensity workouts is worse – when compared to a chest-mounted monitor like ones made by Polar, the heart rate is often more than a dozen beats off of the real mark. This is often the case with heart rate monitors on wrist wearables, but it means the Gear Fit 2 is not made for those enthusiasts who micromanage their workouts.
Fitness Tracking
The Gear Fit 2, as mentioned, is able to automatically track activity, but that is also true for sleep. When registering little to no motion while sleeping, the Gear Fit 2 can tell users the ‘efficiency’ of rest. It seems to take a while for the device to register that sleep is over – likely because obvious movement first needs to happen – but a notification showing the percentage of sleep efficiency will eventually greet users in the morning. Mine was always in the nineties, which seems a little suspect, but at least movement graphs in the S Health app show a little more information.
That said, one of the more useful features of a smart wearable is missing in the Gear Fit 2 – wake up alarms. Personally I think that using vibration feedback for alarms is one of the most important features for a smartwatch – a smart fitness wearable, moreover – to have.
When walking or running around in general, the Gear Fit 2 will try to track the activity – for example, when I attended Anime Expo, the long walks to and from areas in the Convention Center made the wearable vibrate and prompt me about my current length of activity, sometimes telling me to ‘keep it up’ or keep up the pace.’ All of this tracking goes toward the overall amount S Health recommends – either one hour or the default 6000 steps.
Starting actual workouts is simple – just swipe over to the workout widget, select the type of activity, and hit start. There are a few different options for tracking, like distance, pace, or calories burned. Heart rate monitoring happens consistently during cardio movements and does not happen at all when doing other activities – setting “Other Workout” for weight lifting kept the monitor off, which I already mentioned is not ideal for me.
There are other workouts found lower on the list, including bodyweight exercises like squats and crunches. These are actually pretty useful, as the device uses the built-in meters to register movements based on the prompts displayed before starting. In one case, doing a bunch of squats required an almost crossed arm position so that the Gear Fit 2 knew when it was lowered and lifted due to the movement. This part of the fitness tracking is kind of nifty, albeit rather simplistic.
And that is, basically, the best way to describe the Gear Fit 2 in terms of a fitness tracker – like quite a few trackers made by companies that are not already entrenched in the fit world, it is best used as a way to get a glimpse into one’s daily activity.
For full fitness enthusiasts, it isn’t the most accurate tracker but comes with a number of good tools – users can even track how much water or caffeine has been consumed. To track resting heart rate and steps, the Gear Fit 2 does a pretty good job – when the activity gets more intense, usage ultimately gets a little tougher to accurately track. And for people who are already serious about fitness tracking, the Gear Fit 2 may not do enough to replace their already existing solutions.
Software
Tizen is the interface used in the Gear Fit 2, as is the case with the current Gear family of wearables. It is simple, easy to navigate, and provides a proper suite of tools. Notifications are routed to the wearable, so that users will not miss any important messages or alerts. These can be active on a per-app basis, easily changed in the Manager.
When notifications arrive, they are displayed in a scrollable block of text with some options on the bottom. The options are very limited, however, as replies to messages can only be done on either the built-in Samsung SMS messenger and Facebook Messenger. The Google Messenger app, for example, does allow reading back the conversation, but replying relies on canned responses or emoji. And as mentioned before, long form messages are eventually truncated – this isn’t a big deal for a fitness wearable, since reading full e-mails isn’t something that should be done during activity, but it is important to keep in mind.
As this is Tizen on the Gear Fit 2, the Gear Manager and Galaxy Apps systems are required to install extra applications and watchfaces on the device. Watchfaces and widgets are easy to change on the wearable, requiring just a long press on the screen in order to trigger customizations. However, when going into the actual app stores, there is a severe lack of third party applications. I was very happy to find one well-designed and functional watchface, but that’s about all I’ve found in terms of extras. Especially since the original Gear Fit was available quite a while ago, we thought there would be more developed apps.
Gallery
Conclusion
As so, there you have it. A smart wearable by Samsung that hopes to give users a better look into their daily fitness. When taken in the context of fitness trackers, the Gear Fit 2 finds itself among an incredibly crowded market filled with companies that have a lot more experience in the fit world. That said, Samsung has done a great job of adapting their mobile knowledge into the fitness space, and the Gear Fit 2 is slightly above average in terms of tracking.
It unfortunately pales in comparison to much more focused trackers, especially when it comes to heart rate during workouts, but as a way of snapshotting daily activity and consumption, this and S Health are good for the user that needs more than nothing. If you are already tracking your health with another device, the Gear Fit 2 will probably not replace what is already sitting on your wrist. But for everyone else, the appropriately priced $179.99 Gear Fit 2 is a good start that provides just enough to be useful.
Other fitness trackers:
- Fitbit Charge HR vs Garmin vivosmart HR
- Fitbit Alta Review
- Fitbit Blaze review
What do you think of the Gear Fit 2 and do you plan to buy one? Do you like fitness trackers on your wrist? Let us know your views in the comments below!
Buy the Gear Fit 2 now!
Pokémon Go tricks — recover Poké Balls that don’t hit their target!
Don’t blow through your stash on that Golbat. Recover your Poké Balls!
In the first few hours of playing Pokémon Go, you’re going to waste a lot of Poké Balls. Learning to get that flick just right, watching as the ball bounced off of your critter while it tries to attack you, or missing in an attempt to rock a perfect curveball are high on the list. The failed attempt slowly rolls off screen, leaving you ready to grab another Poké Ball and give it another good toss. Actually, it turns out you can recover most of those lost Poké Balls, as long as you’re fast enough!
This couldn’t be more simple. Tap the Poké Ball before it rolls off the screen after a failed throw, and that Poké Ball will be returned to your inventory. It doesn’t work every single time, but it works most of the time and it makes a huge difference when forced to rely on a limited inventory to catch a Pokémon that is being particularly difficult.
Don’t let those Poké Balls go to waste. Get out there and have some fun!
Pokémon Go
- Requirements to play Pokémon Go
- The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!
- How to play without killing your battery
- Be careful where you download from
- Join our Pokémon Go forums!
Grindr successfully convinced gay men to test for HIV infection
Grindr, the popular gay social networking app, recently ended a study in which a subsection of users were targeted to receive and utilize HIV self-testing kits for a quick diagnosis. Of the 56 men who were tested and answered survey questions, two learned via the kit of their infections.
The study targeted gay black and Hispanic men in Los Angeles, utilizing banner ads that offered access to HIV testing kits by mail or via pharmacy or vending machine in the parking lot of the L.A. LGBT Center. These groups were chosen as they are the most likely to become infected for HIV and least likely to seek out or receive testing for it, according to the study.
The research produced a whopping 69% of men who responded to survey questions who hadn’t been tested for the infection within the last six months.
Given that Grindr is utilized by over five million men across 192 countries, this could be a very effective way going forward to combat the spread of HIV infection in the gay community.
Via: The New York Times
Source: CSIRO Publishing
PC shipments recover in the US
It’s not all doom and gloom in the PC world… for once. Both Gartner and IDC estimate that PC shipments actually grew in the US for the first time in over a year, climbing in the second quarter to either 4.9 percent according to Gartner (which includes Windows tablets) or 1.4 percent if you ask IDC (which doesn’t). There’s no one answer as to why the computer industry is bouncing back, regardless of who you ask. A stronger US economy is playing a part, but the analyst groups also point to strong Chromebook sales to schools as well as a possible spike in purchases from governments and other public outfits.
Just don’t look at shipments in the rest of the world, as they’re rather ugly. Both Gartner and IDC reckon that worldwide deliveries dropped between 4.5 to 5.2 percent. That’s not as bad as it could have been (IDC was predicting a 7.4-point drop), but you’ll have to forget any visions of an imminent return to the PC’s heyday. Economies are still weak outside of the US, and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are still a higher priority for cash-strapped buyers. Lenovo may have extra reason to worry — its shipments shrank enough that it’s barely holding its market share lead over HP.
On the bright side? While researchers are cautious, they do see ways the industry could climb out of its hole. As upgrading to Windows 10 will soon cost you $119, there’s the chance that people will decide to replace their PCs rather than fork over cash to update existing machines. You could also see the corporate crowd take a serious look at buying Windows 10 computers instead of clinging to aging systems for dear life. Although that amounts to a lot of “ifs” and “maybes” that could easily change, it’s the best hope yet for a PC business that has been declining for years.
Source: Gartner, IDC
Twitter remains quiet about OurMine attack on its CEO’s account
Early Saturday morning the team that has been breaking into high-profile social media accounts managed to temporarily hijack Twitter accounts for the CEOs of Yahoo and Twitter. Despite repeated requests from Engadget, Twitter has not commented on the incident and Jack Dorsey has not tweeted about it. Twitter’s Trust & Info Security Officer Michael Coates did take time to refute a claim made by the OurMine hackers, after they posted a screenshot they claimed proves Vine has access to its users passwords.
We securely store our passwords per industry best practice (bcrypt).
— Michael Coates ஃ (@_mwc) July 9, 2016
According to Coates, on Vine “the admin site is restricted to Twitter IPs, is https, and never shows passwords in any form.” OurMine claims they only took it from Dorsey’s Dropbox, but as ZDNet points out, some of the info in the capture suggests it’s just a fake. We still don’t know exactly what hole the group used to tweet from @Jack, but check the post from Saturday for some tips on what you should do to be as secure as possible.
Are these Google’s upcoming Android Wear smartwatches?
If you haven’t heard already, Google is making two Android Wear smartwatches (possibly Nexus-branded), and now a leaked render has surfaced depicting what those upcoming smartwatches might look like and feature.
Android Police, which published a bunch leaked details about the watches (thought to be codenamed Angelfish and Swordfish), has posted the render and described it as a “recreated image” of the devices. Android Police said it couldn’t share its source, and so it recreated the watches based on the source’s material, and the end result “may look slightly different”. Okay.
It also warned the devices are still undergoing development, so the design could end up totally different. Heck – one or both of the devices could even be cancelled. Anyway, as you can see, the watch on the left is the larger “Angelfish” device. It has a large crown button and smaller “shoulder” buttons. The watch face pictured is an iteration of Google’s customisable faces in Android Wear 2.0.
Unlike Angelfish, which is a standalone watch with a sportier design, the smaller Swordfish lacks LTE and GPS, is less thicker, and has a clean look. It has an odd crown button interrupting its minimalist look, however. Swordfish also has a bezel with a gentle curve to it. Android Police said its image doesn’t reflect the Swordfish’s display glass containing a small amount of circular display bezel.
Android Police
That means there will be a black “gap” between where the watch body ends and the visible display area begins, but this will apparently avoid the flat tyre-look of the Moto 360. So, instead of a single spot “cut” out of the circle, Google made a smaller circle with a smaller display area overall.
Other than that, there’s no more information about whether these are Nexus watches, how much they’ll cost, nor when they’ll launch.
Build 3D games without touching a line of code with this 7-course bundle (92 per cent off)
If game development is your passion, you can learn the basics of Unity 3D, coding, animation, level design, and more with the Intro to Unity 3D Game Development Bundle, now 92 per cent off from Pocket-lint Deals.
Rich in features and fully integrated, Unity is a dynamic development engine for the creation of interactive 3D content. Your hands-on training will put you in command of game creation as you build games through hands-on exercises while learning.
Through the 7 courses in your bundle, you’ll learn to build, program and publish a 3D shooter game, turning it into a multiplayer game hosting 2 to 16 players. You’ll also master character gear and weapon use, and build a coin management system.
Along the way, you’ll learn essential programming fundamentals, establishing important foundations in Swift and C# languages.
No programming or digital artistry experience is required to dive into this great tutorial series, designed to get you up and running as a game developer. You’ll even learn how to publish apps and games to the App Store or Google Play, monetize your creations, and capture user emails to market your new game features.
Courses include:
- Build, Program and Publish a 3D Shooter Game
- Unity Multiplayer 2016: Build Online Shooter
- Unity Game Boost: Coin Management System
- Unity 2016: Email List Building
- Unity Game Boost: Build a Video Reward System
- Unity 2016: Character Gear and Weapon Use
- Fundamentals of Programming
At 92 per cent off from Pocket-lint Deals, learning to build your own 3D games has never been more comprehensive or affordable. Get started today.
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